NHS Improvement has issued a Patient Safety Alert: Confirming removal or flushing of lines and cannulae after procedures. The alert has been issued to ensure confirmation at the end of a procedure that all intravenous (IV) lines and cannulae used for anaesthetic or sedative drugs have been removed or effectively flushed. If this does not happen residual anaesthetic and sedative drugs can later be inadvertently introduced into the patient’s circulation causing muscle paralysis, unconsciousness and respiratory and cardiac arrest.